The Queen celebrated her 94th birthday in lockdown at Windsor Castle — here's what the non-traditional ceremony looked like

• Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her 94th birthday on Saturday at Windsor Castle, where she has been in self-isolation with Prince Philip due to the coronavirus pandemic.
• Traditionally, the Queen's Trooping the Colour birthday parade is a televised event held at Buckingham Palace.
• This year, the celebration included a "military ceremony" at the castle's grounds, and no other royal family members were in attendance.
• It's reportedly only the second time in the history of the Queen's reign that the traditional Trooping the Colour parade has been canceled.

The Queen's traditional Trooping the Colour birthday parade was put on hold this year in light of coronavirus lockdown orders from the British government, but the 94-year-old monarch celebrated instead with a modified ceremony.

Queen Elizabeth II attended a "military ceremony" at Windsor Castle on Saturday, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday. The Queen and Prince Philip have been in self-isolation at the castle since March.

The Queen was the only royal family member in attendance at Saturday's ceremony.

Traditionally, the Queen joins her family members on a balcony of Buckingham Palace to watch the festivities of the Trooping the Colour ceremony.

The Queen's birthday ceremony on Saturday was a smaller version of the typically fanfare event. It included "soldiers from the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, who are currently on Guard at Windsor Castle, and feature music performed by a Band of the Household Division," according to a Buckingham Palace spokesperson.

The Queen viewed a series of military drills on the grounds of Windsor Castle, as seen in a video shared by the royal family on Twitter.

In typical circumstances, more than 1,400 parading soldiers, 200 horses, and 400 musicians take part in Trooping the Colour, reported Insider's royal reporter Mikhaila Friel. Below, soldiers and horses entered the Buckingham Palace grounds in 2019.

The Queen's day of birth is April 21, but she usually celebrates with a grand parade in London the second Saturday of June

The Queen celebrates two birthdays each year.

On her technical birthday, April 21, the Queen typically celebrates in private with the rest of the royal family. The Queen's official birthday celebration is held on the second Saturday of June (the date of the Trooping the Colour ceremony). The Trooping the Colour parade is a tradition started by King George II more than 270 years ago, according to the royal family's Twitter account.

The ceremony being held in the summer has to do with weather, according to the royal family's website — as monarchs born in colder months would have a better chance of being able to celebrate with a parade in June.

The Trooping the Colour ceremony was canceled in 1955 due to rail strikes, which is believed to be the one other time in history that the Queen did hold the parade, according to Hello! Magazine.

The Queen previously requested to cancel military gun salutes that typically occur on her April 21 birthday

Gun salutes are traditionally sounded at the Tower of London and at the city's Hyde Park to mark the Queen's birthday. However, the Queen requested to forgo the ceremonial gun salutes for what was believed to be the first time her 68-year reign.

The Queen asked to put a pause on the ritual in fears of it coming across as inappropriate considering the coronavirus crisis, a Buckingham Palace official told the BBC in April.

• Read more:
• You can take a free virtual tour of Windsor Castle, the largest occupied castle in the world where the Queen is spending her 94th birthday
• What the world was like when Queen Elizabeth was born
• 'Success will belong to every one of us': Queen Elizabeth II in a historic address thanks essential workers and people staying home amid pandemic